Market Rules
The UK has a range of different exchanges on which equity and debt securities can be traded. Each of these has a different set of (or combination of sets of) applicable rules for financial reporting. Some of these rules were implemented in the UK as a result of European Law, and remain part of UK Law after the UK's exit from the EU. Other rules are UK specific and imposed and policed by the FCA's primary market functions (link to Financial Conduct Authority website) – a department of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) (formerly known as the UK Listing Authority (UKLA).
UK markets are of two types; those that are ‘regulated’ for the purposes of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) as implemented in the UK and those that are not, including exchange regulated markets and multilateral trading facilities.
The list of UK regulated markets maintained by the FCA can be found here (link to FCA website). The definition of 'regulated market' excludes companies traded on AIM and AQSE Growth Market but includes companies traded on the AQSE Exchange Main Market.
The rules of these markets are, broadly, set out in the following places:
- the FCA’s Prospectus Rules (link to FCA handbook), which set out the rules for issuing a prospectus – required to make a public offering of securities and/or to seek admission to trading on a UK regulated market;
- the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules (link to FCA handbook), which set out the rules for ongoing disclosure which cover periodic financial reporting and notification of interests in shares; and
- the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR), which sets out rules to prevent market abuse including rules around the disclosure and control of inside information and disclosure of dealings in shares by directors and other senior management of issuers. MAR represents direct retained EU law and therefore continues to form part of UK law after exit from the EU.
The UK Listing Rules page includes information for companies that are listed on the London Stock Exchange.
